England's 2019 World Cup winner Moeen Ali feels ODIs are the "worst format to play", saying 50-over cricket is almost "dying" because of the existing rules. The ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 features the top eight teams in the world. Still, the competition has failed to capture the imagination of audiences, and several matches have not witnessed jam-packed crowds inside the stadiums.
Even the marquee contests between India and Pakistan and India and Australia initially saw empty stands. The Dubai International Stadium filled up towards the latter part of the contest. However, the lack of interest has been there for everyone to see.
Moeen Ali, who played 138 ODIs for England, said that the existing rules are "terrible." He spoke about the two new balls and the inclusion of one extra fielder inside the circle after the end of the first powerplay.
"The format has almost completely died out, apart from World Cups and Champions Trophy. It is the worst format to play and I think there are many reasons for that," Moeen told Talksport Cricket.
"I think the rules are terrible. To have that extra fielder after (the first powerplay), I think it's a horrendous rule for taking wickets, building any sort of pressure. Guys are averaging 60, 70 in ODI cricket now because of that," he added.
For the uninitiated, earlier, after the end of the first powerplay, five fielders used to be stationed outside the circle, but in recent years, this has been changed to four. This is viewed as one of the biggest reasons behind rising scores in ODIs.
"When you're bowling at somebody and you put a little bit of pressure, he just reverse-sweeps and it's not even a single, it's a four. It's just there's always that option available for the batters (to score)," he said.
'You have two new balls'
Moeen Ali also spoke about how the reverse swing has been eliminated from the game because of two new balls and how the art of hitting the softer ball has been completely eliminated.
"On top of all this, you have two new balls, you lose the reverse swing, you lose the art of trying to hit a softer ball," he said.
"Everything's always in the middle and crisp, and it's flying off your bat and stuff. I think for those reasons, the cricket's just died. 50-over cricket has died," Moeen added.
Moeen Ali also believes that players will continue prematurely retiring from international cricket to play in global T20 leagues.
"I think franchise cricket is sadly eating it all up, and the problem is the money that's out there and the money that's being thrown out there. It's so much that people just can't turn it down. It's very difficult," he said.
"There are probably guys who are probably going to retire in the next couple of years from international cricket to play franchise cricket," Moeen added.
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